Page 47 of Reckless
Her lashes flutter in time with the nervous way she nods her head. “Yeah. Okay.”
To my surprise, she puts the mouthwash on a shelf and heads in my direction, plopping down onto the bathroom mat right beside me.
Her soft jersey shorts slouch down over her thighs when she props her knees up and her bare leg presses against mine. “Is this okay?”
I nod, eyes still fixed on her smooth tan thigh, her femur so much shorter than mine. I remember how it felt to grip that thigh, how she wrapped them both around my waist and tugged me close.
The round lights above the vanity hum and the only other sounds in the bathroom are the soft splatter of rain against the windows and us breathing in time.
“What’s her name?” A watery laugh follows my question. “Please tell me you didn’t name her Autumn.”
Winter snorts and her head drops. “Fuck. I would never.” Then she turns her face up to mine, sadness etched into her beautiful face. “Her name is Vivienne Hamilton. But we all call her Vivi.”
We all.
Those two words hit me like a ton of bricks.We all. Everyone here knows her. Has seen her grow. Got to be there when she was born.
And I’ve had no idea.
“Does she have a middle name?”
“No.”
I nod. Who cares about a middle name? God, I’m an idiot.
“What day is her birthday?”
“September twenty-second. Would have been stupid to name her Autumn with a birth date like that.”
I chuckle, but it’s strangled. “How was labor?”
She blinks up at me. “Labor?”
“Yeah. Her birth. How was it?”
“It...it...” She pauses. “Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you to ask me that question.”
“I want to know everything, Winter. Every little detail.”
“Okay.” Her face scrunches up a little. “Well, noteverylittle detail.”
“My mom is a midwife. You can’t shock me after years of listening to her tell birth stories.”
My mom. Another rock lands in my stomach. This will gut her. She’ll be excited but heartbroken all at once. I know because that’s how I’m feeling right now.
“Honestly, it was incredible. Powerful. And exhausting. But so rewarding. She was healthy and so was I.”
I swallow the wordsI should have been thereover the lump in my throat.
“Theo?” Her knee nudges mine. “If I wasn’t talking to you, who was I talking to? I got your number from the Hamilton Athletics member list.”
“It was probably Geoff at Hamilton Elite.”
“Wait.” She holds a hand up. “At my dad’s work?”
I nod, staring at my hands, pressing on the calloused pads. “I refocused after that Christmas and cut out all the noise. All the social media, all the...” I tip my head back and groan as I look up at the ceiling.
“Women?” Winter provides with no inflection in her voice.
